Editing Your Draft

Start with your own pass

Before spending money on a professional, do at least one full self-edit. Let the draft rest for a few weeks after finishing it, then read it start to finish without stopping to fix small things. Note big-picture problems (pacing, plot holes, characters who disappear) first, then go back for a line-by-line pass.

The four kinds of professional editing

These are usually done in this order, and most authors don't need all four. Pick based on budget and how confident you feel in each area.

• Developmental edit: big-picture feedback on plot, structure, pacing, and character. Done first, before the prose itself is polished, since it can mean rewriting whole sections.
• Line edit: sentence-level feedback on voice, flow, clarity, and word choice.
• Copyedit: grammar, punctuation, consistency (names, timeline, spelling), and adherence to a style guide.
• Proofread: the final pass before publishing, catching typos and formatting errors after everything else is locked in.

Finding an editor

Freelance marketplaces like Reedsy and the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) let you browse editors by genre and see their rates. Before committing to a full manuscript, send the same short chapter to two or three editors as a paid sample; comparing how each one handles identical material makes it much easier to judge quality and communication style than comparing quotes alone. Rates vary widely by genre, manuscript length, and the editor's experience, so there's no single "normal" price to expect.